CRAZY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN 1950’S HOUSEHOLD & TODAY PLUS GIVEAWAY

Life – especially for women in the 1950’s was very different to what we can expect by today’s standards. In those days, a lot of women married young, they stayed at home to raise children and to keep the house clean. It was a time when men were considered to be the head of the household, the breadwinner, the one who went out to work.

Even if women did want to go to work, they would be employed in what was known as ‘women’s jobs’. These would be secretaries, typists or nurses. With societal pressures there was an economic incentive to keep the woman in a marriage and at home – even if it was an unhappy marriage! Indeed, it was unusual in the 1950’s for women to go to university – especially those from working class areas. Moreover, schools often prepared girls for being a wife and a mother by providing lessons in cookery, household management, sewing and darning.

I wanted to see what the differences were in terms of household appliances, food, clothes and being a housewife then and now after reading a beautiful story about a couple who just recently got rid of appliances they purchased in 1950! Let me know what you think.

Household Appliances

In the 1950’s there was no central heating system. Coal fires would heat the rooms downstairs while the upstairs would be heated by an electric fire. There was no double glazing either so in winter it was common place for ice to form on the windows! Keeping a bed warm was easy with a hot water bottle.

Fridges were starting to become more accessible to households to store food, but there were no freezers and no supermarkets! People shopped in local stores with most people buying items to use straight away.

Many homes had a vacuum cleaner and a cooker. Vacuums were often heavy bulky items that often gave you a bad back! Probably bought on Hire Purchase. Entertainment wasn’t 100+ channels but a radio (known as a wireless). Although TVs started to become popular, although these would have been rented rather than owned. Of course in black and white too!

Image credit: Getty 1950′ housewife

Food

Shopping for groceries was often completed each day and required visiting several shops such as the butcher and the greengrocer. Often items were behind the counter so there was often no browsing either.

Clothing

Clothes were mostly handmade with a heavy reliance on knitted items. Recycling and mending was a big thing, reusing clothes or sewing to ensure longevity. However, I love the silhouettes of the clothes from the 1950s. There were beautiful swing dresses or pencil dresses. There wasn’t a size zero in sight!

The House Wife

Women and men have more choice today as to whether they stay at home to look after children. However in the 1950s there was little choice for women. They were strongly encouraged to stay at home to be a wife and mother. Doing housework and looking after children were considered as women’s work. Indeed women were expected to clean the house and have dinner ready for her husband coming home from work!

Image credit: FivePrime

For me there are several huge differences between the 1950s and today. One is the options available to women – although there is still a way to go! The second is the gadgets and appliances. To be honest I could not live without my Vax Blade 32V Cordless Vacuum Cleaner! It seems that without these housework – no matter who does it – would have taken all day. Even simple cleaning jobs would take forever. Like cleaning an oven! These days I use Oven Pride with no scrubbing involved. In 1950 I would have needed to scrub for hours!

So while I do love all things vintage, reading some of the differences between then and now, I can honestly say that I would prefer my gadgets and all those helping hands that make life so much easier to keep the house clean and tidy without having to spend hours doing it.

Snap! That’s my answer! We don’t have room for separate machines, and it is so much easier now with a washer/dryer. We line dry as much as possible, but it’s so handy in winter to be able to get everything dried.

I couldn’t live with out my hoover! with having kids and dogs! plus the man of the house making a mess I think id go MAD!! if I didn’t have a hoover to hoover all that dirt and dust away. Happy New Year! everyone!

I couldn’t live without my steam mop! I have hardfloors throughout my flat and it would be a nightmare having to hand mop it all! So glad we have all these technologically advances! I can’t imagine being without a fridge or freezer either!

washing machine/dryer – sounds boring but with 2 very active kids with a ton of kit to wash, it’s an absolute necessity. When my mother had an old fashioned top loader, spin dryer and mangle, things were very different. We didn’t have so much stuff!

The fridge! When we go camping we manage without electric hookup but the one thing we struggle with is keeping things cold so always need to use the campsite ice block freezer! The fridge is essential!

The fridge! Hard to imagine that when my grandparents were born they weren’t common in most homes… although in fairness, my grandparents didn’t have an inside toilet either.
Times certainly have changed….

Favourite candle scent (which is the question I got) would be Highland Berry, which sounds amazing.
Item I couldn’t live without would be the washing machine. (think this is the answer to the previous question)

English Rose …. it would remind me of my grandma’s garden when I was young, she had so many rose buses and I remember making pomanders with her for the wardrobe from rose petal leaves and lavender from her garden, we used to sew them together and make a loop for hanging them in the wardrobe.

Hmmm… this is a tough one! I’d say my washing machine as I’d hate to hand wash and mangle everything like the old days, although having two dogs, I would be knee high in pet hair in a week if it wasn’t for my vacuum. I don’t think my carpet sweeper could cope.

I could NEVER live without the tumble dryer. We didn’t have a dryer when I lived with my parents and, I remember, in winter we would spend hours and hours turning clothes just to speed up the drying process.

I like the purple hyacinth scent. Re appliance I’d miss, it would probably be my washing machine. When I was at boarding school in the 70s, our school uniform went to the school laundry, but our own clothes (which we were allowed to wear in the evenings and at weekends) had to be hand-washed and then put through a mangle to squeeze the water out of them. Dreadful for underwired bras and also used to stretch sweaters if you weren’t careful.

Purple Hyacinth sounds wonderful.
There seem to be some confusion with your question. Clicking the comment on blog takes us to a page of Burberry candles to choose a scent but lots of replies are choosing gadgets ??

I think the item i would be most lost without is my washing machine. How on earth my GrandMother generation coped with the copious amounts of washing they had using only a dolly board and mangle i will never know! How hard they must have worked x

I couldn’t live without my husband who cleans a lot!
OK in all seriousness, I couldnt live without our kettle, hot drinks are really needed in this weather.
But our hoover comes in a very close second, as I hate dust and messy carpets; we have 3 cats so hair collects quickly

I would find it hard not to have a washer dryer – boiling up water, scrubbing clothes by hand against a washboard or using a dolly, feeding wet washing through the mangle and then pegging it all out on the line in freezing weather. I would like to try a Jasmine candle please.

It would have to be our dishwasher, especially with all the cooking and baking for all the family l think l would be washing up the whole day its so great to put it on and get on with the other jobs we have to do each day 🙂